New Earth
by ponylkb
Summary: As Peter Argent embarks upon his first TARDIS adventure with Rose and the newly-regenerated Doctor, they discover a sinister hospital run by strange cat people and run in to two old acquaintances, The Face of Boe and Cassandra. Can the Sisters really have a cure for everything? And how far will they go in the name of healing New Earth?
1. Chapter 1

The grated metal floor clicked underfoot as he walked around. Throwing his overcoat over one of the Tardis's console room's supporting arches he walked over to the console down a lever. The soft green lights of his ship lit up the Doctor's smile as he readied the Tardis for departure.

Outside Rose and Peter stood with Mickey and Jackie in the large concrete playground the Tardis was parked in.

"Have you got everything?" Jackie asked Rose as she helped her put on her large rucksack.

"I've got everything don't worry" Rose reassured her.

"Be careful" Jackie told her as they hugged.

"I will do and you'll have to call cousin Mo about that..." Rose began to say.  
>"Oh never mind Mo" Jackie said before she turned to Peter.<p>

"You take care too sweetheart wherever home is" She told him as she also gave him a hug.  
>"I will and thanks again for letting me stay over the holidays" He thanked her whilst Rose went over to Mickey.<br>"I'll see you soon ok?" She asked.

"Yeah course," He said with smile, though sounded as if he wasn't finished. "Listen, I know it's hard with the the Doctor but..." He said insecurity with a nod towards Peter, who was still talking with Jackie. Rose laughed a little.  
>"Don't worry we're just dropping him off home," She said. "Why? Your not jealous of him are you?" She asked. Mickey glanced over at Peter again.<br>"No, course not" He eventually replied, though didn't sound convicting as Rose rolled her eyes. Mickey always tended to see any good looking guy that came near her as a threat to their relationship. She gave him a quick kiss to reassure him just as the Tardis's engines sounding, indicating the ship was ready to taken off.

"Ok we're going now, I love you, I love you" Rose said to Mickey and Jackie. "Ready?" She then asked Peter as he put on his own rucksack and picked up his other bag and came over.

"Lets go" He said with a smile as they headed over and into the Tardis. Following Rose into the ship Peter felt his jaw drop as he saw the inside of the huge room. The Doctor was casually leaning against the console.

"Welcome to the Tardis, it's bigger on the inside..." He began to say.

"Than it is on the outside," Peter finished his sentence as he looked around. "It's in your UNIT file" He quickly explained. "But still I never imagined..." He said, trailing off in amazement as he followed Rose up to the console as they put their bags on the floor. The Doctor smiled at his wonder as he pulled down a lever. Mickey and Jackie watched from outside as the Tardis de-materialised from sight before they started heading back to their flats.

The Tardis whirred and groaned as it flew through the time vortex, though the console room remained surprisingly steady under the Doctor's control whilst Rose was sat on the nearby moth eaten fabric chairs and Peter watched from the padded platform that ran all the way around the wall of the room, halfway between the floor and celling.  
>"So," Rose said, turning to Peter. "You can change into a wolf then? How?" She asked.<p>

"Em, I just can I can't explain it, just if I want to I do" He replied. "But my abilities stay with me all the time" He added.

"You mean that claw thing?" Rose asked.

"Not just that, I can hear and smell as good as a wolf, I was always stronger, faster and could deal with cold weather and heal better than any human I ever met, it's like the wolf merged with me and I with it" He explained as best he could as he jumped down from the platform. "Here feel my hand" He said, holding it out. Slowly Rose felt the top of his hand.  
>"That's really warm, it's almost feverish" She said, feeling the heat coming from his skin.<p>

"That's my normal body temperature, stops me feeling cold and from overheating too" He said.

"Are all Saiyans wolves or...?" Rose then asked. Peter seemed unsure.

"Erm, I don't know" He replied.

"Each family changes into something different, normally you can tell what by their name is or how they look" The Doctor explained.

"Yeah I guess that makes sense, my name Argent means silver in most languages and always seems to be tied to wolf legends" Peter said.  
>"Isn't silver meant to be harmful to wolves thought?" Rose asked. Peter laughed.<p>

"Pure mythology, it may be tied to the legends but it's complete nonsense" He dismissed with a wave of his hand. "And all that howling at the full moon, please, it's ridiculous" He said.

Knowing what he was and what he could turn into, Rose couldn't help but notice, like the Doctor had said, his features look wolfish. His bold grey eyes were the same shade as a wolf's fur and seemed to have a silvery tint to them whist his canine teeth looked larger than a humans as they caught on his lips slightly every time he grinned. He was also quite well built with strong muscles and had a habit of ruffling his thick black hair every so often whilst he nose would flare every so often, as if he was constantly sniffing the air. Her thoughts were interrupted by the Doctor as he flicked a few more switches on the console.

"Right then, here we go" He said as he brought the Tardis into it's final landing approach. Rose knew they were landing as the ride got much more bumpy and unstable before it all came to a rest.

The Doctor quickly checked the console's screen.  
>"Sorry Peter we've had to make a slight from Vegeta, I've just a urgent message" He explained as he grabbed his overcoat and ran over to the door.<br>"No problem, so where are we then?" Peter asked. The Doctor grinned.  
>"Further than any of us have ever gone before" He said. "Come on!" He called as he opened the door and stepped outside with Rose and Peter excitedly following him out. As they stepped outside, however, they found themselves both freeze in amazement from what they could see from the top of the grassy hill they'd landed on.<p>

"It's the year five billion and twenty three, we're in the Galaxy M87 and this, this is New Earth" The Doctor said as they all looked out at a huge city with sleek and futuristic skyscrapers that lay on the opposite side of a large stretch of calm water from them. Overhead hundreds of flying cars ribboned across the sky in traffic lane like patterns.

"That's just, that's just" Rose tried to say. "That's just..." She tried to say again but just ended up laughing in here amazement whilst Peter, who'd only ever known Earth, could only stare and smile.

"Not bad, not bad at all" The Doctor said, taking in the fresh air.

"That's amazing, the year five billion?" Peter managed to say.

"And twenty three" The Doctor added, looking out at the city.

"Oh I'll never get use to this, never," Rose said. "Different ground beneath my feet, different sky" She said, jumping up and down on the grass a little.

"Why can I smell apples?" Peter asked as he sniffed the air, looking round confused as there were no visible trees or apples around them. The Doctor bent down and picked a few blades of grass from the ground and stood back up, sniffing them.

"Apple grass" He explained with a grin, causing Rose and Peter to laugh. "Come on" The Doctor added as he led them down the grassy slope and towards the city. They were unaware, however, that they were being watched. The Doctor, Rose and Peter were being filmed and the live recordings were being sent to a red sphere shaped screen. The man watching them was dressed in hospital scrubs and had very pale skin and was lacking any hair or distinctive features apart from the plain dotted patterns tattooed onto his skin.

"Human, she's pure blood human" He said excitedly. "Closer, closer" He ordered.

On the same hill as the Doctor, Rose and Peter a small four legged robotic spider with a red camera eye for a head followed them stealthily as it used the tall grass blades as cover to spy on them as it filmed. The Doctor, Rose and Peter had found a flat bit of grass and had all sat down, with Rose and the Doctor sitting on his large over coat.

"So the year five billion, the sun expands and the old Earth gets roasted," The Doctor explained as they watched the cars fly over them on their way to and from the city.

"That was our first date" Rose reminded him.  
>"We had chips" The Doctor remembered. "So anyway, planet gone, all rocks and dust but the human race lives on, spread out across the stars," He continued explaining. "Soon as the Earth burns oh they get all nostalgic, big revival movement, they find this place," He said. "Same size as the Earth, same air, same orbit, lovely, word goes out and the humans move in" He told Rose and Peter.<p>

"What's the city called?" Rose asked, gazing at the skyline.  
>"New New York" The Doctor replied with a grin.<p>

"Oh come on" Peter scoffed.

"It is, it's the city of New New York," The Doctor told them. "Strictly speaking it's the fifteenth New York since the original, that makes it New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York" He said in one breath. "What?" He asked when he saw Rose laughing and smiling at him.  
>"Your so different" She said.<br>"New new Doctor" He joked. The spider was still filming them and was drawing closer so that it could see their faces. The pale man was still watching the image on the sphere and jumped when the other occupant of the room spoke. "Impossible I recognise that child" The woman's cold high held voice said as she watched. "Her face, show me her face" She ordered. The pale man nodded.

"Closer! Closer!" The man ordered the robotic spider, which began circling it's targets in order to get a better angle. "Face! Face!" The pale man ordered.

"Can we go and visit New New York? So good they named it twice" Rose asked the Doctor as they all stood up.

"Well, I thought we might go there first," He replied as he put his overcoat back on. He then pointed out a large white building that was built a little away from the main city, right on the coastline.

"Why? What is it?" Peter asked.

"Some sort of hospital, green moon on the side, that's the universal symbol for hospitals" The Doctor replied, indicating the green crescent moon sign on the side of the building. "I got this, message on the psychic paper, someone wants to see me" He said as he held up his psychic paper. The message 'Ward 26, Please Come'.

"Psychic paper?" Peter asked.  
>"Yeah, shows whatever you want it to" The Doctor quickly explained.<p>

"Come on then, lets go buy some grapes" Rose joked as they headed off towards the hospital.

The robotic spider managed to film Rose's face as they walked away. The woman watching the images gasped when she saw it.

"Rose Tyler! I knew it! That dirty blond assassin" She hissed, though that's all the Lady Cassandra could do. She was nothing more than a piece of skin with eyes and a mouth, held upright by a metal frame.

"She's coming here mistress" The pale man said excitedly.

"Oh, this is beyond coincidence, this is destiny, at last I came be revenged" Cassandra vowed. Many floors above the Doctor, Rose and Peter had reached the reception doors of the hospital.

"Oh, I never liked hospitals, give me the creeps" the Doctor said as they walked into large sleek familiarly clinically clean foray.

"Bit rich coming from you" Rose said, stating the irony. Going past the front desk, all manned by white cloaked and fully faced veiled staff, who were also walking around among the visiting humans, they came to a large centre point of the hospital entrance hall. It was very tall and opened planned with all white decoration, only the green moon logo showing any signs of colour, and a minimalism design."Very smart, though not exactly NHS" Rose said. The Doctor looked around.

"No shop, I like the little shop" He said, sounding a little disappointed.

"You'd have thought this far in the future they'd have cured everything" Peter said

"The human race moves on but so does the viruses, it's an on going war" The Doctor replied as Rose and Peter paused to look around. That was then they saw one of the staff walk past with their veil removed. It was a cat. Seeing them stare at it as it bowed it's head politely as it walked past. The Doctor came back over.

"They're cats" Rose said, shocked.

"Now don't stare" The Doctor told them.

"On two legs" Peter added, equally stunned. The Doctor smiled.

"Well imagine what you look like to them," He said. "All pink and yellow, and wolf like," He said to Rose and then Peter. "That's where I'd put the shop, right there" He then said, pointing to a space over their shoulders before walking off again.

"At least I walk on four legs when I change" Peter whispered to Rose as he followed the Doctor, causing her to laugh as she also walked on.


	2. Chapter 2

The Doctor had walked to a nearby lift, which was stood ready with it's doors open.

"Ward twenty six thanks" He said casually as he walked into it, Peter entering a moment later. The lift doors began to shut as Rose was reaching them.

"Hold on, hold on!" She shouted. But the lift doors had shut as the control panel showed it was starting to go up.

"Oh too late we're going up" The Doctor called through the doors. Far below in the hospital's basement the pale man was still stood at the red sphere, using the hospital's camera's to spy on Rose.

"Override controls" He ordered. Rose quickly spotted another lift and pressed the call button.

"It's all right there's another lift!" She called back to the Doctor.

"Ward twenty six and watch out for the disinfectant!" The Doctor replied as the lift he was in slowly moved up.

"The what!?" Rose shouted, not able to hear him though the doors.

"The disinfectant!" The Doctor shouted.

"Watch out for the what!?" Rose shouted back..

"The disinfect! Oh you'll find out" The Doctor said, giving up on being heard.

"What is the disinfectant?" Peter asked nervously. The Doctor replied with a grin that told Peter he would so find out. The other lift had finally arrived on Rose's level and opened it's doors to allow her in.

"Er, ward twenty six, thanks" She said as the doors shut her in. When the screen that showed which direction the lift was travelling in came on, however, it showed the lift was going down.

"Commence stage one disinfection" A recorded female voice said in the lift the Doctor and Peter were in as a small alarm went off whilst two green lights at the back of the lift started flashing. Then a spray of lukewarm water showered down on them both. The Doctor just stood there as if nothing had happened, even deliberately moving himself more into the spray. A small yell coming to the right of him told the Doctor that Peter had found out what the disinfectant was. In Rose's lift the same recording had sounded. She gave a small scream as the water poured down. The Doctor was clearly enjoying the downpour as he began rinsing his hair and scrubbing it. Peter and Rose, however, were not as Peter tried to stay out of the spray as much as possible whilst Rose tried to find an off switch on the walls.

The shower did eventually stop only to be replaced by a cloud of white powder that seemed to dry them. Then a blast of hot air circulated the lifts, much like a group of hair dryers going off, which finished drying them off. When the doors of their lift opened the Doctor and Peter walked out looking as if nothing had happened, in fact looked even better as the disinfectant had dried their hair into much neater styles.

"A little warning would have been nice" Peter said as he ruffled his hair. The Doctor merely grinned and walked off, also messing up his hair, as Peter followed. Rose's lift had also arrived and she stepped out of it feeling much refreshed. But unlike the Doctor and Peter, who'd had stepped out onto ward twenty six's all white and sleek corridor, the corridor she had walked onto was dark, stony and littered with abandoned hospital equipment and debris.

"The human child is clean" A voice said, making her jump. The pale tattooed man was stood halfway down the corridor from her.

"Er, I'm looking for ward twenty six?" Rose asked.

"This way Rose Tyler" He replied as he jogged, a little hunched over, down the corridor. Rose, sensing something wasn't right, hesitated and picked up a metal bar that was lying on the floor

before cautiously following. Far above the Doctor and Peter were being led into one of ward twenty six's bays by one of the veiled cat staff.

"Nice place," The Doctor said as they looked at the half a dozen patients, who were lying at either side of the bay which ended in a floor to ceiling window that gave a view of the city across the water. "No shop downstairs though, I like the little shop, not a big one, just a shop so people can shop" The Doctor added as the cat person removed her veil. Her face showed she was obviously female and quite mature, obviously one of the more senior staff.

"The hospital is a place of healing" She replied.

"A shop does some people the world of good, not me other people" The Doctor said as they began walking up the aisle. Each patient had such strange conditions that Peter couldn't help but stare as he saw a woman hung frozen on a titled platform who's skin was bright red whilst a hairless man with white skin lay sat up in a bed opposite her.

"The Sisters of Plenitude take a life long vow to help and to mend" The cat nurse explained. A groaning and gurgling sound, much like a very upset stomach, distracted the Doctor and Peter. The sound was coming from a extremely overweight man who was lying on the bed they were passing.

He was groaning in pain and his skin was a very nasty shade of grey.

"Excuse me" A sharp voice cut through the air. It belonged to a rather stern and official looking woman dressed in a all black suit, who was stood bedsides the man. She had her hair pulled into a very tight bun and was staring them coldly through her thick black glasses.

"Members of the public may only gaze at the Duke of Manhattan with written permission from the senate of New New York" She told them as she walked over.

"That's Petrifold Regression right?" The Doctor asked, ignoring the woman's hostility.

"I'm dying sir, a life time of charity and abstinence and it ends like this" The Duke replied weakly.

"Any statements by the Duke of Manhattan may not be made public without official clearance" The woman sharply warned them.  
>"Frau Clovis!" The Duke cried as a wave of pain seemed to hit him. The woman immediately ran to his side and took hold of his hand.<p>

"I'm so weak" The Duke groaned. Frau turned back to face the Doctor, Peter and the nurse.

"Sister Jatt a little privacy please" She asked the nurse, who the led the Doctor and Peter away.

"He'll be up and about in no time" She reassured them.

"Really? It didn't look too good to me" Peter said.

"Petrifold Regression, he's turning to stone," The Doctor said. "There won't be a cure for oh, a thousand years, he may be up and about but only as a statue" He explained.

"Have faith in the sisterhood" Sister Jatt said proudly. "But is there anyone here you recognise?" She asked, indicating the bay. "It is rather usual to visit without knowing the patient" She said.

The Doctor, however, had spotted who was in the patient area next to the window and smiled.  
>"No, I think I've found him" He replied. Peter and Sister Jatt followed his gaze. The Face of Boe stood in it's tank which was hooked up to various drips as another nurse tended to him.<p>

"Novice Hame? If I can leave these gentleman in your care?" Sister Jatt asked the younger nurse as they walked up.

"Oh, I think our friend got lost, Rose Tyler could you ask at reception?" The Doctor asked Sister Jatt as she was leaving.

"Certainly sir" She replied before she walked off.

"I'm afraid the Face of Boe is asleep, that's all he tends to do these days" Novice Hame informed in a soft voice. "Are you friends or...?" She asked tentatively.

"I just met him the once on platform one," The Doctor replied. "What's wrong with him?" He asked. Novice Hame's face saddened a little more.

"I'm so sorry, I though you knew, the Face of Boe is dying" She said solemnly.

"Of what?" Peter asked quietly.

"Old age, one thing we can't cure," Novice Hame replied. "He's thousands of years old, some people say millions although that's impossible" She said.

"Oh, I don't know I like impossible" The Doctor said, smiling a little, as he knelt down in front of the Face of Bow. "I'm here, I look a but different but it's me, it's The Doctor" He whispered to the Face of Boe as he placed a hand on the tank's glass. The Face of Boe groaned a little as it seemed to respond to the Doctor's presence.

Having followed the pale man Rose found herself walking towards a doorway which had clear thick plastics strips hanging down from it. On the other side she could see what looked like and old fashioned film projector. As she walked in, still holding the metal bar, she saw that the projector playing a film showing a group of formally dressed people socializing over glasses of champaign.

The images then focused on a tall pretty blond woman in a sequinned light blue dress who was talking to two men.

"Well you never know what your life is going to be like, ever," She told them with a flirtatious flip of her hair. "I'm board of this drink" She then said as she handed the drink to the camera man without looking. The woman then spotted another man she obviously knew. "Oh hello there!" She said to the man, who then whispered something in her ear. "Oh, now don't! Stop it!" The woman said jokingly. It was at that moment that Rose realised she recognised the woman, or her voice at least.

"Wait a minute, that's..." She began to say but trailed off as she sensed a presence behind her and wheeled round.

"Peek a boo" Cassandra called whilst the pale tattooed man stood like a faithful pet in the nearby corner.

"Don't you come anywhere near me Cassandra" Rose warned as she edged away from them.

"Why? What do you think I'm going to do? Flap you to death?" Cassandra asked sarcastically.

"Yeah what about golem?" Rose asked, indicating the pale man.

"Oh that's just Chip, he's my pet" Cassandra said casually.

"I worship the mistress" Chip said proudly as he stepped closer to Cassandra.

"Moisturise me moisturise me" Cassandra ordered him. Chip nodded and picked up a small squirt bottle and sprayed her with it. "He's not even a proper life form, he's a force grown clone, I modelled him on my favourite pattern," Cassandra explained. "But he's so faithful, Chip sees to my physical needs" She said.

"I hope that means food?" Rose muttered. "How come your still alive?" She asked.  
>"After you murdered me" Cassandra said coldly.<p>

"That was your own fault" Rose reminded her, stepping forward a little.

"The brain of my mistress survived" Chip told her, indicating Cassandra's brain which was sat in a tank of bubbling liquid at the bottom of her tank. "And her pretty blue eyes were salvaged from the bin" He added, gazing at Cassandra admiringly.

"What about the skin? I saw it, you got ripped apart" Rose told Cassandra, remembering their last encounter where she'd seen Cassandra dry up and crack up, quite literally.

"That piece of skin was taken from the front of my body, this piece is from the back" Cassandra explained.

"Right, so your talking out your..." Rose began to say with a laugh.  
>"Ask not!" Cassandra snapped.<p>

"The mistress was lucky to survive," Chip said. "Chip secreted milady into the hospital" He said.

"So they don't know your here?" Rose asked.

"Chip steals medicine, helps milady, soothes her, strokes her..." Chip started to say devotedly as he stroked the back of Cassandra's skin.

"You can stop right there Chip" Rose cut in, not wanting to hear any more.

"But I'm so alone, hidden down here, the last human in existence" Cassandra said, trying to sound pitiful.

"Don't start that again," Rose said. "They've called this planet New Earth" She said.

"A vegetable patch" Cassandra muttered.

"And there's millions of humans out there, millions" Rose told her.

"Mutant stock" Cassandra insisted.

"They evolved Cassandra, they just evolved like they should," Rose said. "You stayed still, you got yourself all picked and preserved and what good did it do you?" Rose asked.

"Oh I remember that night," Cassandra said, changing the subject, as she gazed longingly at the film. "Drinks for the Ambassador of Thrace" She said as she watched herself being greeted and admired by various men at the party. "That was the last time anyone said I was beautiful, after that it all became, such hard work" She added, growling out the last part a little.

"Well you've got a nack for survival I'll give you that" Rose admitted.

"But I've not been idle Rose, tucked away under this hospital I've been listening, the Sisters are hiding something" Cassandra told her.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked.

"Oh these cats have secrets, hush let me whisper, come close" Cassandra invited.

"You must be joking if you'd think I'd come anywhere near you!" Rose said with a serious laugh as she immediately backed away, backing into underneath an archway. The archway suddenly lit up as two concealed black panels in the sides of the archway shot out thin strands of yellow energy that pulled Rose's arms towards them and held them there so that she became unable to move.

"Chip activate the Physiograph" Cassandra ordered gleefully as Chip ran over to a pair of levers and pulled them down.

"I can't move, Cassandra let me go!" Rose cried out as a blue light enveloped her. "What you doing!?" She asked.

"The lady's moving on, it's goodbye trampoline and hello blondie!"Cassandra replied as she disappeared into a stream of pink light which then travelled over to Rose and entered her.


	3. Chapter 3

As the pink energy vanished Chip turned the Physiograph off and ran over as Rose's limp body fell to the floor.

"Mistress?" He asked nervously as she stirred.

"Moisturise me" She mumbled as she came round and opened her eyes. As Chip ran to get the squirt bottle Cassandra looked over her new body.

"Arms! Fingers! Hair!" She gasped, still in Rose's voice though with her own posh and smug tone, as she saw each of them. Chip had returned with the squirt bottle but didn't use it as he watched his mistress become more and more ecstatic. "Let me see! Let me see!" She cried as she sprang to her feet and ran over to a nearby mirror.

"Oh my god! I'm a chav!" She insisted as she looked at herself. On ward twenty six the Doctor was returning with three plastic cups of water. Handing one to Peter he then handed the second to Novice Hame, who was sat on a stool besides the Face of Boe.

"That's very kind but there's no need" She insisted.

"Your the one working" The Doctor replied kindly as he looked out of the window and drank from his own.  
>"There's not much to do, just maintain his smoke and I suppose I'm company, I can hear him singing sometimes, in my mind, such ancient songs" She replied.<p>

"Are we the only visitors?" Peter asked. Novice Hame nodded.  
>"The rest of the Boekind became extinct long ago, he's the only one left, legend says that the Face of Boe has watched the universe grow old," She said. "There's all sorts of superstitions around him, one story says that just before his death, the Face of Boe will impart his great secret, that he will only speak those only to one like himself" She told them.<br>"What does that mean?" The Doctor asked.

"It's just a story" Novice Hame dismissed.

"Tell me the rest" The Doctor insisted. Novice Hame paused for a moment.

"It said he'll talked to a wander, to the man without a home, the lonely god" She finished. The Doctor's eyes flicked from her, to the Face of Boe's and then to Peter's. He matched his gaze, saying nothing, but his eyes told the Doctor he knew who it meant too. UNIT had taught him enough about the Doctor. After a few moments of silence the Doctor took his physic paper and handed it to Peter.

"Rose's mobile number, would you call her? Check she's all right? The phones are next to the lifts" He asked.

"Course," Peter replied. "As long as they don't spray disinfectant too" He joked, causing the Doctor to smile, as he walked away. Cassandra was still admiring herself and criticising Rose's body.

"Look at me, from class to brass" She insisted. She then unzipped her jacket a little and seemed a little less disappointed.

"Although, curves, oh baby it's like being inside a bouncy castle!" She said, bouncing up and down on the spot with Chip doing the same.

"Mistress is beautiful" He insisted.

"Absolutemont," She replied. "Oh but look" She then said as she noticed the empty metal frame and the no longer bubbling brain.

"Oh, the brain meat expired, my old mistress is gone" Chip said much like a disappointed child.

"But safe inside in here" Cassandra pointed to Rose's head with a smile.

"But what of the Rose child's mind?" Chip asked.

"Oh, tucked away, I can just about access a surface memory she's..." Cassandra began saying but suddenly trailed off. "Gosh, she's with the Doctor, the taller of those two men he's the Doctor, the same Doctor with a new face, that hypocrite!" She snapped. "I must get the name of his surgeon, I could do with a little work" She added as she walked back over to the mirror. "Although, nice rear bumper" She said, admiring her backside. It was then that Rose's mobile phone, tucked in her jean's back pocket, started ringing. "Oh? It's ringing? Is it meant to be ringing?" Cassandra asked asked as she pulled it out and held it at arms length.

"Primitive communications device" Chip told her as she answered it.  
>"Rose, where are you?" Peter's voice came through.<p>

"How does she speak" Cassandra mouthed to Chip.

"Old earth cockney" He mouthed back.

"Erm, watch ya" She spoke in a very old fashioned cockney accent.  
>"Where've you been? How long's it take to get to ward twenty six? Although I'd take the stairs after that disinfectant" Peter replied with a laugh as he stood talking on one of the hospital's large white phones.<p>

"I'm on my way governor, I shall proceed up the apples and pears" Cassandra replied.

"You'll never guess what? We're with the Face of Boe, the Doctor said you've met him before, he's literally a big head in a tank remember?" Peter asked.

"Course I do" Cassandra laughed back, having been there herself. Up on the ward Peter had noticed some form of celebrations taking place around the Duke of Manhattan and saw the Doctor heading over to it. "Well as long as your all right, we'll see you in a minute then" He said before hanging up and headed over to the commotion. The cause of it was the Duke himself as he was now back to his normal skin colour and seemed much recovered as he helped himself to a glass of champaign.

"Ah! It's those men again! My two lucky charms!" He greeted as he saw the Doctor and Peter approach. "Come in don't be shy" He insisted.

"Any friendship expressed by the Duke of Manhattan does not a form of legal contract" Frau told them, though a little more warmly that before, as she stood besides the Duke, also with a glass of champaign in her hand.

"Winch me up?" The Duke asked her. Frau nodded and picked up a remote, pointing it at the Duke's bed, which lifted him up into a sitting position.

"Look at me! Not sign of infection!" The Duke told the Doctor and Peter happily as a butler came round to them with glasses of champagne on a drinks platter.

"Champaign gentlemen?" He offered.  
>"No thanks" The Doctor said whilst Peter shook his head.<p>

"Erm, you had Petrifold Regression right?" The Doctor asked.

"Had being the operative term, past tense! Completely cured" The Duke said as he and Frau chuckled. The Doctor and Peter, however, we're a lot more suspicious.

"But that's impossible" The Doctor said just as one of the nurses joined them.

"Primitive species would accuse us of magic, but it's merely the tender application of science" She insisted with a smile.

"How on Earth did you cure him?" The Doctor asked. The nurse smiled again.  
>"How on New Earth you might say" She said chuckled.<p>

"But how did you cure him?" Peter asked. The nurse indicated a a drip full of a dark blue liquid that was running down to the Duke's arm.  
>"A simple remedy" She told him.<br>"Then tell us what it is?" The Doctor asked. The nurse's smile faded a little.

"I'm sorry patient confidentiality," She said. "I don't believe we've met, my name is Matron Casp" She introduced.

"Peter Argent" Peter replied.

"The Doctor" The Doctor said.

"I think you'll find were the doctor's here" Matron Casp said off handedly as Sister Jatt came up to her.  
>"Matron Casp your needed in intensive care" She said in low voice.<p>

"If you would excuse me" Matron Casp said the Doctor and Peter before she walked off with Sister Jatt.

"You know I never did like cats" Peter said to the Doctor as they watched the nurses walk away before they turned back to the Duke.

If Peter had focused on them a little longer, however, his heightened hearing would have most likely heard what they said next.

"It's happened again, one of the patients is contentious" Sister Jatt whispered.

"Oh we can't have that" Matron Casp replied casually. Back in the basement Cassandra was getting ready to meet the Doctor and Peter.

"This Doctor man is dangerous" Chip insisted.

"Dangerous and clever, I might need a mind like his, and that other man looked strong, I could use some muscle" Cassandra replied. "The sisterhood is up to something, remember that old Earth saying? Never trust a nun, never trust a nurse and never trust a cat" She told him. "Perfume?" She

then asked. Chip took out a small glass vile from his pocket and handed it to her which she placed down the front of her shirt.

Finally she was ready and headed out if the basement to find the Doctor and Peter.

Matron Casp and Sister Jatt had arrived in the intensive care ward. But unlike the rest of the hospital, this ward was very dark and damp with no beds in sight. Instead doors with a glowing green light emitting from them lined the corridors.

"It was having a perfectly normal blood wash and all of a sudden it started crying" Sister Jatt said they she came to a particular door. Opening it the two nurses looked into the small pod behind and the person stood inside it.

"Please help me" The man groaned weakly as it stretched out it's boiled covered and heavily infected hands.

"Look it's eyes, they're alive" Sister Jatt said as she and Matron Casp stood watching the man. "Positively sparkling!" Matron Casp agreed.  
>"Please, where am I?" The man asked.<p>

"And speech! How can it even have a vocabulary?" Matron Casp asked.

"Sister Covens has written a thesis on the migration of centians, calls it the echo of life, it's rather worth a read" Sister Jatt replied.

"Help me" The man pleaded

"I've seen enough thank you" Matron Casp said. Sister Jatt shut the door of the pod and began heading back up the corridor with Matron Casp.

"If this happens again we might have to review our brain stem policy" Matron Casp said as she headed out of the ward's door.  
>"And what shall we do with the patient?" Sister Jatt.<p>

"Oh standard procedure, incinerate" Matron Casp said casually. Before she left the ward Sister Jatt headed over to a nearby lever and pulled it down. The door of the pod they'd opened lit up white as the man inside it screamed in pain. After it fell silent Sister Jatt pulled the lever back up and left the ward.

Cassandra had reached ward twenty six and had found the Doctor and Peter, who were both looking around the patients and the drips attached to them.

"Rose" Peter said as he spotted her.

"There you are, look at this patient" The Doctor told her as he came over and guided her to the red skinned woman. "_Marconi's Disease, should take years to recover, two days, I've never seen anything like it, they've invented a cell-washing cascade, it's amazing" He told her. _"Their medical science is way advanced" He added. "And this one" He then said as he went over the white skinned man. "Pallidome Pancrosis, kills you in ten minutes and he's fine" The Doctor continued as he gave the man a quick smile and wave.

"Basically they're curing the incurable and making long term illnesses short term" Peter explained.

"I need to find a terminal, I've got to see how they do this" The Doctor said as he led them away and out of the ward. "If they've got the best medicine in the world why is it such a secret?" He asked as they walked down the corridor.

"I can't Adam and Eve it" Cassandra replied.

"What...? What's with the voice?" The Doctor asked as they stopped.

"Oh, I don't know, just larking about, New Earth, new me" She replied.

"Well, I can talk, new new Doctor" The Doctor joked. Cassandra smiled.

"Aren't you just" She said before she grabbed hold of his head and pulled him into a fierce kiss, one that she held for a while. Peter could only try and divert his eyes away from the awkward scene until they finally stopped. Cassandra pointed over her shoulder.

"Terminals, this was way" She said a little shakily and breathless before walking off in the indicating direction. The Doctor and Peter remained where they were for a moment as they watched her go.

"Yeah still got it" The Doctor said as he followed her, straightening his hair a little. Peter sighed and rolled his eyes as he too followed. Cassandra led them over to a large screen which showed the layout of the hospital."No nothing odd, surgery, post op, nano dentistry, no sign of a shop, they should have a shop" The Doctor said as he looked through it.

"No it's missing something else, when I was downstairs those nurse cat nuns were talking about intensive care, where is it?" Cassandra asked.  
>"Your right well done" The Doctor said.<p>

"Why would they hide a whole department?" Cassandra asked as the Doctor pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver. "It's got to be here somewhere, search the subframe?" She asked the Doctor.

"What if the subframes locked?" He asked.

"Try the instillation protocol" Cassandra replied, making it sound obvious.

"Yeah course sorry, hold on" The Doctor said as scanned the screen with the Sonic Screwdriver.

The wall the screen was mounted on suddenly groaned and hissed before it slid down into the floor to reveal a hidden, dark and steel panelled corridor. Cassandra, looking pleased with herself, was the first to walk in. "Intensive care" The Doctor commented as followed her in.

"Well it looks intensive" Peter added followed. Just as they entered the corridor Novice Hame had walked past and spotted them.


	4. Chapter 4

Inside they found a few flights of metal stairs which led them down to the rows of green pod doors.

From one corridor they could see how big the ward actually was as the wall of pods gave way to a balcony that gave a view of hundreds of corridors, each filled with the green doors. Carrying along the corridor for a while the Doctor eventually stopped at one of the pods and unlocked it with his Sonic Screwdriver before opening the door. He heard Peter gasp as they saw the man inside the pod.

The man was covered in boils and marks of multiple infections and was stood propped up against the back wall of the pod. He was clearly alive as they could see him breathing and his eyes were open but he looked as if he wasn't aware of anything around him.

"That's discussing" Cassandra said, holding her hand to her mouth. "What's wrong with him?" She asked.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" The Doctor said to the man before he shut the door. Opening the next pod along they found a woman with the same horrid marks and in the same unresponsive state.

"What disease is that?" Peter asked.

"All of them, every single disease in the galaxy, they've been infected with everything" The Doctor replied.

"What about us? Aren't we safe?" Cassandra asked.

"The air's sterile just don't touch them" The Doctor replied as he shut the door. Walking back to the balcony they gazed out at all the pods, knowing now what each one concealed.

"How many patients are there?" Cassandra asked.

"They're not patients" The Doctor said, a slight tone of anger was building in his voice now.  
>"But they're sick?" Peter said.<p>

"They were born sick, they're meant to be sick, they exist to be sick!" The Doctor told them. "Lab rats! No wonder the Sisters have a cure for everything, they've built the ultimate research laboratory, a human farm!" He spat. Heading back for the exit the Doctor paused again at one of the pods.

"Why don't they just die?" Cassandra asked.  
>"Plague carriers, last to go" The Doctor replied.<p>

"It's for the greater cause" A voice sounded. It was Novice Hame. She was walking towards them from the opposite end of the corridor.

"Novice Hame," The Doctor hissed. "When you took your vows did you agree to this?" He asked.

"The sisterhood has sworn to help" She replied.

"What by killing?!" Peter growled.

"They're not real people, they're specially grown, they have no proper existence" She replied.

"What's they turnover? Thousand a day? Thousand the next? Thousand the next? How many thousands? For how any years?" The Doctor asked as they began walking over to her. "How many?!" He shouted as they came to stand opposite her.

"Mankind needed us, they can to this planet with so many illnesses, we couldn't cope" Novice Hame said. "We did try, we tried everything, we tried using clone meat and bio-cattle but the results were too slow so the Sisterhood grew it's own flesh, that's all they are, flesh" She insisted.

"These people are alive! I can hear their hearts beating right now!" Peter said, pointing to a pod.

"But think of those humans out there, happy and healthy because of us"Novice Hame told him.

"If they live because of this then life is worthless" The Doctor said.

"But who are you to decide that?" Novice Hame asked him.

"I'm the Doctor and if you don't like it, if you want to take it to a higher authority there isn't one, it stops with me!" He told her as he walked right up to her.

"Just to confirm? None of the humans actually know about this?" Cassandra asked from behind the Doctor and Peter.

"We thought it best not..." Novice Hame began to say.

"Hold on, I can understand the bodies, I can understand your vows, one thing I can't understand, what have you done to Rose?" The Doctor asked Novice Hame.

"I don't know what you mean?" She replied, looking confused.

"And I'm being very very calm you wanna be aware of that, very very calm and the only reason I'm being so very very calm is that the brain is a delicate thing, whatever you've done to Rose's head I want it reversed" The Doctor said.

"We haven't done anything" Novice Hame said.

"I'm perfectly fine" Cassandra insisted.

"She's telling the truth" Peter said, glaring at Novice Hame.

"See he..."Cassandra began to say.

"Not you," Peter cut in. "When people lie their heartbeat involuntarily skips a beat, Novice Hame's hasn't" He quickly explained to the Doctor before he turned to face Cassandra. "But yours has been, ever since you came up to the ward, not to mention the scent of partial energy that wasn't there before" He told her.

"How do you know that's not normal? You don't know me" Cassandra said, using Rose's memories to her advantage.

"Oh but I do" The Doctor said as he also turned to face her. "These people are dying and Rose would care" He said. Cassandra rolled her eyes.

"Oh aright you clever boys" She said as she began fiddling with the Doctor's tie. "Smarty pants, lady killers" She said huskily.

"What's happened to you?" Peter asked. Cassandra's gaze fell on him.  
>"I knew something was going on in this hospital but I needed this body, and you two handsome men to find it out" She answered as she moved a hand from the Doctor's tie to Peter's hair as she leaned in close to them.<p>

"Who are you?" The Doctor asked as he and Peter stood observing the strange and flirtatious behaviour. Cassandra lent in even closer so that her head was level with their ears.  
>"The last human" She whispered.<p>

"Cassandra?" The Doctor asked surprised as she took a step back.

"Wake up and smell the perfume" She replied, pulling out the small bottle from her shirt. She squirted the contents right next to Peter's and the Doctor's noses. Instantly they both unconsciously collapsed to the ground.

"You've hurt them! I don't understand? I'll have to fetch Matron!" Novice Hame said in a panicked voice as she bend down and examined them. Peter had fallen against one of the pods and was slumped against the door whilst the Doctor was sprawled out on the floor.

"You do that because I want to see her, now run along! Sound the alarm!" Cassandra ordered. Once Novice Hame had run off towards the exit Cassandra walked over to the side of the corridor and reached up to the tubing that was running along the wall. Pulling down on one it broke in a shower of sparks as a flashing red siren began sounding. Novice Hame had reached the ward's exit where Sister Jatt and Matron Casp were calmly walking into, despite the siren's whining.

"Matron it's those men and the girl!" Novice Hame pointed out in a panic.

"We've heard the alarm, now get back to work, tend to your patients" Matron Casp ordered calmly.

Novice Hame nodded and left quickly as the two more senior nurses carried on into the ward.

When the Doctor came round all he could see was green as he came to realise that he was standing in one of the pods.

"Let me out! let me out!" He shouted. A sudden banging sound filled the air. "Peter?" The Doctor guessed.  
>"Yeah! You in a pod too?" His voice replied, slightly muffled by the walls of the pod.<p>

"Yeah" The Doctor replied. More banging sounded. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"The door's on a hinge, I might be able to ram it off!" Peter replied as a few more bangs rang out, caused by him ramming the door of his pod with his shoulder.

"Down boy!" Cassandra told Peter gleefully as she came into view of the two pods she'd put them in. "Aren't you two lucky there were some spares? Standing room only" She said as she watched them through the thick frosted glass of the pod's doors.

"You've stolen Rose's body..." The Doctor began to say.

"Over the years I've thought of a thousand ways to kill you Doctor and now that's exactly what I've got, one thousand diseases, they pump the patients with a top up every ten minutes, you have around," She said, pausing to check her watch. "Three minutes left, enjoy" She said.

"Just let Rose go!" Peter shouted.

"I will, just as soon as I've found someone younger and less common, then I'll junk with the waste, now hush a bye it's show time" She replied.

"Anything we can do to help?" Matron Casp asked, having arrived with Sister Jatt.

"Straight to the point whiskers, I want money" Cassandra demanded as Chip, who'd been summoned up from the basement, stood behind her.  
>"The Sisterhood is a charity, we don't give money we only except" Matron Casp insisted.<p>

"The humans across the water pay you a fortune and that's exactly what I need, a one off payment, that's all I want, and perhaps a yacht, in return for which I will tell the city nothing of your institutional murder" Cassandra said as she began walking towards them. The cats nuns seemed to consider this for a moment. The silence, however, was broken by a large bang and smashing sound as the door of Peter's pod jerked forward, it's glass breaking from the damage it had received from Peter's continued ramming. The nurses nor Cassandra seemed worried by this, however, not even when Peter stepped out of the door's windowless frame.

"Don't you move!" He warned Cassandra, pointing a finger at her, as he went to the Doctor's pod and managed to open it.

"Good form, you ok?" The Doctor asked as he stepped out.

"Yeah, told you I could ram it open" He replied as he flexed his aching shoulder.

"So do we have a deal?" Cassandra asked as she turned back to Matron Casp and Sister Jatt.

"I'm afraid not" Matron Casp replied casually.

"I'd really advice you to think about this" Cassandra told her.  
>"There's no need, I have to decline" Matron Casp replied.<p>

"I'll tell them and there's nothing you can do to stop me! You're not exactly nuns with guns, your not even armed" Cassandra insisted.

"Who needs arms, when we have claws" Matron Casp said with a hiss as lethal looking claws shot through her gloves.

"Well nice try, Chip plan B" Cassandra faltered a little as she turned to look around him as he stood behind Peter and the Doctor. Chip nodded and ran over to a level and pulled it. Another siren sounded as all the doors on the corridor swung open. The cat nurses backed away fearfully as slowly but surely all of the people inside the pods walked out.

"What have you done!?" The Doctor shouted as he watched the infected people walk towards the cat nurses and the exit of the ward.

"Given the system a shot of adrenalin just to wake them up, see ya!" Cassandra replied as she, followed by Chip, ran off down the corridor away from them all. The Doctor seemed to be torn between following her and helping the terrified nurses.

"Don't touch them! Whatever you do don't touch!" He told them before he and Peter gave pursuit of Cassandra and Chip.

"I think we should withdraw" Sister Jatt said calmly as began backing away from the people.

"We understood what you did to us, as part of the machine, we know the machine" One of the infected men told them.

"Fascinating, it's actually constructing an argument" Matron Casp commented as they continued to back away.

"And we will end it" The man then said before he slammed his fist into a small box on the wall. A fatal current of electricity surged through him and he collapsed to the floor dead. But it wasn't in vain as, by breaking the box, he had sent a signal throughout the entire ward that opened every one of the green pods.


	5. Chapter 5

The locks of each pod were exploding in a shower of sparks as each and every door swung open and released the infected people inside. Running down the corridor, the Doctor, Peter, Cassandra and Chip had to cover their heads with their arms as the sparks blew out at them. Matron Casp and Sister Jatt were looking out at the ward from the balcony and saw the thousands of infected people walk free.

"They're free! By the goddess Santori! The flesh is free!" Sister Jatt cried. It was then that they saw a crowd of their creations walking up to them, only meters away. As the nurses backed away Sister Jatt began hissing and batting her paw at them in an effort to keep them away. But it was too late as they had managed to back her into a corner. Matron Casp could only watch from the doorway she'd managed to get to as the infected people advanced on her colleague and grabbed hold of her. The moment the infected people's skin touched Sister Jatt's all of their diseases surged through her. She let out a final scream as her face gained the infectious marks before she fell to the floor dead. The Doctor, Peter, Cassandra and Chip had reached the stairs where they could see most of the open pods and the dark shapes of the infected people standing in front of them.

"Oh my god!" Cassandra said.

"Look what you've done!" The Doctor scalded her.

"It wasn't me!" She insisted.  
>"One touch and you get every disease in the world, and I want that body safe Cassandra" The Doctor warned as a group of the infected people walked down the stairs towards them.<p>

"We've gotta go down" Peter said.

"But there's thousands of them" Cassandra cried.

"Run!" The Doctor shouted back as the infected people drew closer. Cassandra let out a scream as they bolted down the stairs. Matron Casp had managed to reach an exit where a phone hung on a wall.

"Quarantine the building!" She shouted into it before running out as the infected people followed her.

"This building is under quarantine" An automated announcement rang out as across the hospital all the exits were automatically shut and locked. The infected people were following the Doctor, Peter, Cassandra and Chip down the stairs, forcing them to run down the stairs.

"Keep going! Go down!" The Doctor shouted as they ran.

Far above a member of staff was opening a door for a man and woman. What none of them knew, however, was that a group of the infected people lay waiting on the other said. They lunged forward and caught the woman by the wrist.

"Help me!" She screamed. But it was too late as the infections passed into her.

Cassandra and Chip had managed to lead the Doctor and Peter down the the hospital basement and to the lifts just outside her old room which Cassandra tried to summon.

"No the lifts have closed down, that's the quarantine, nothings moving" The Doctor told her.

Cassandra seemed to have an idea.

"This way!" She shrieked as she ran back past them and down the corridor.

As they were running the corridor opened up on one side to another passageway where a group of the infected people suddenly loomed out of. Cassandra, the Doctor and Peter just managed to clear them but Chip had been to slow and was now cut off from them group and let out a wail.

"Don't let them touch you!" The Doctor shouted to him as he ran back a little.

"Leave him! He's only a clone thing with a half life!" Cassandra shouted as she caught the Doctor's arm and pulled him away a little before running on.

"Mistress!" Chip wailed.

"I'm sorry I can't let her escape!" The Doctor shouted to him as he and Peter followed Cassandra. Chip, much like a panicked child, looked around wildly as he whimpered. He then saw a way out, a waste shoot, and with a hesitant look at the advancing infected people he leapt into it. Back upstairs the stern and uptight Frau Clovis was searching for a member of staff.

"Excuse me? Can we get some service?" She asked as she walked through a set of doors. The main entrance to the intensive care ward lay ahead of her and was still open. That was when she saw the group of infected people walking out of it. Letting out a scream Frau darted for an alarm button on the wall before running back the way she'd come.

Cassandra had led the Doctor and Peter into her old room. Locking the door behind him with the Sonic Screwdriver the Doctor watched as Cassandra ran over to a second door. But a group of the infected people behind it made her quickly shut it again.

"We're trapped! What are we going to do?" She screamed in a total panic. The Doctor and Peter, however, stood watching her with serious expressions on their faces.

"Well for starters your going to leave that body," The Doctor told her. "That Physiograph is banned on every civilized planet, your compressing Rose to death" He said as he pointed to the machine.

"But I've got nowhere to, my original skins dead" Cassandra replied as she looked at the empty frame she'd been attached to before turning back to them.

"Not my problem, you can float as atoms in air, now get out" The Doctor ordered as he pointed the Sonic Screwdriver at her. "Give her back to me" He said. Cassandra smirked.

"You asked for it" She replied. She then seemed to let out a large breath as a stream of pink light left Rose's body and travelled across to the Doctor before it disappeared again. Rose fell to the floor, but was stopped from hitting it by Peter, who'd just managed to catch her.

"Oh my head," She mumbled as she came to. "Peter?" She asked as he helped her to her feet.

"Hey, good to have you back" He replied with a smile.

"Wait, where's Cassandra?" Rose asked as they looked around the room.

"Oh my, this is different" The Doctor said in a very odd tone. Peter and Rose watched him for a moment.

"Oh no she didn't? Cassandra?" Peter asked the Doctor.

"Goodness me I'm a man!" She said. "So many parts I've hardly used" She added as she got use to the Doctor's body. She then clutched her chest. "Oh! Two hearts! Oh baby I'm beating out a samba!" She said.  
>"Get out of him" Rose ordered.<br>"Oh he's slim, and a little but foxy, you thought so too" Cassandra said to Rose as she walked over to her. "I've been inside your head, you've been looking, you like it" She teased as Rose blushed and turned away.

"All right girls enough" Peter said. "In case you haven't noticed we're being chased by disease ridden zombie people here" He reminded them.

"He's right, Cassandra we need the Doctor" Rose said as she was brought back to their predicament. Cassandra looked like a child whose fun had been stopped.  
>"Oh all right then" She said. The pink light then came out of the Doctor and entered Rose again.<p>

"Oh chavtastic" She then said. The infected people had started hammering against the door and, by the sounds of it, it didn't seem long before they'd break through.

"Right we need to get out of here and quickly" Peter said as he looked around for an exit. But the Doctor didn't seemed interested in escaping as he held his Sonic Screwdriver up at Cassandra again.

"Leave her now" He ordered. Both she and Peter sighed.

"Doctor we need you" Peter insisted. The Doctor didn't seem to register him.  
>"Cassandra get out of her" The Doctor told Cassandra.<p>

"Like he said, we need you" She replied, indicating Peter. The Doctor looked as if he was about to argue again but Peter cut in.

"We haven't got time to argue," He said before turning to Cassandra. "Cassandra go into me" He told her.

"What?" She asked.

"If it'll stop you two arguing and get us out of here, go into me" He said. The banging on the door was getting worse which seemed to help Cassandra's decision. The pink light flowed out of Rose and headed for Peter.

"Oh, big teeth, how does he talk?" Cassandra said, speaking as Peter, as she got use to his large canines. "Much more muscle as well, make a nice change I suppose, your are too skinny" She added to the Doctor, who was looking around the room for a way out. "Though not as smart, too bold for my liking, mind you that's what get from soldiers" She continued.

"All right Cassandra enough! Peter's doing you a favour so give him some respect!" The Doctor snapped at her.  
>"Your very defensive of him? And you've only just met him too?" Cassandra asked. Suddenly she looked as thought of something funny. "You might say he's a stray you've picked up, him being a dog and everything" She said.<br>"Wolf" Rose corrected.

"Oh whatever" Cassandra dismissed with a wave of her hand. "Oh no!" She suddenly said, clutching the side of Peter's head.

"What is it?" The Doctor asked, only concerned for Peter's sakes.

"Ah! He's forcing me out! His other form's getting defensive!" Cassandra winced. Suddenly she left him and headed into the Doctor, leaving Peter to stumble back a little, clutching his head.

"You ok?" Rose asked as she helped him steady himself.

"That hurt, yeah I'm fine" He winced as he shook himself into focus.

"Well it wasn't exactly pleasant for me" Cassandra, now in the Doctor, whinnied. There was a sudden bang as the infected people finally forced open the door.

"What do we do? The Doctor? What would the hell would he do?" Cassandra asked in a panic. Looking around Rose spotted a ladder.

"There! We've gotta get up" She said, running for it.

"Out of the way blondie!" Cassandra shouted as she pushed her way to the front of them and started climbing it, followed by Rose and Peter. Up on ward twenty six the staff, patients and visitors were trying to barricade the doors shut as the infected people tried to push through. Even the Duke of Manhattan was helping, using his weight as an advantage as he used it to secure the blockade. Chip had once again run into the infected people, this time in the intensive care ward. They'd surrounded him on both sides so he had little choice but to dive into one of the pods, shutting the door as the infected people knocked against the door. Cassandra, Rose and Peter were climbing higher and higher up the ladder which had led them into the lift's shaft. The infected people had followed them and were climbing up just a few rings below. But incredibly another argument had broken out about who Cassandra should be inhabiting.

"If you get out of the Doctor's body he can think of something" Rose called.

"Yeah yeah yeah, god it's tedious inside your head, hormone city" Cassandra replied.

"Cassandra just get out! Otherwise we're dead!" Peter shouted. Suddenly he yelled out in pain. Looking down he saw it was Matron Casp. She must have got ahead of the infected people from a level they'd passed and was now gripping Peter's leg with her paw, her claws piercing through the denim of his jeans. "Get off!" He shouted as he shook his leg, managing to get her paw off it and down to his shoe where the tougher leather material protected his foot from her claws.

"All that good work, all that healing, the good name of the Sisterhood, you have destroyed everything" She hissed as she jerked Peter's ankle painfully.

"Go and play with a ball of string" Cassandra called down to her.  
>"Everywhere disease, this is the human race, sickness" Matron Casp continued to hiss. But just below her the infected people had caught up. One of them reached out their hand and grabbed her bare ankle that was exposed below her cloak and shoe. The diseases rage through Matron Casp and caused her to lose her grip on the ladder and fall all the way down to the bottom of the shaft. Peter could now see the infected people.<p>

"Move! Now!" He shouted to the others. Cassandra whimpered as she started climbing as Rose and Peter followed as fast as they could. Soon they reached a set of doors, indicating a level on the other side.

"Now what we do?" Cassandra whimpered as she tried to bash open the doors.

"Use the Sonic Screwdriver" Rose replied. Cassandra pulled it out and held it precariously by her fingertips.  
>"You mean this thing" She said a little snobbishly.<br>"Yes I mean that thing" Rose snapped.

"I don't know how, that Doctor's hidden away all his thoughts" Cassandra said.

"Cassandra go back into me, the Doctor can open it!" Rose told her. "Do it!" She then shouted. Cassandra sighed.

"Hold on tight" She told her as she left the Doctor and went into Rose.  
>"Doctor the door!" Peter then shouted as soon as he was back. But the Doctor was too busy dealing with Cassandra.<p>

"Not till you leave Rose Cassandra" He told her.

"We need the Doctor!" She told him.

"I order you to leave her!" He shouted. Cassandra complied and went back into him.

"No matter how difficult the situation there is no need to shout" She said.

"Cassandra get out of him" Rose ordered.

"But if I go into you he simply refuses, he's so rude" She replied.

"I don't care where you are Cassandra just do something!" Peter suddenly shouted. Cassandra winced.  
>"Oh, I'm so going to regret this" She said before she left Rose's body and travelled down past Rose and Peter and into the nearest infected person. "Oh sweet lord I look discussing" She said vainly. The Doctor, having finally registered the danger, opened the doors with the Sonic Screwdriver before he Rose and Peter scrambled up and through the open doors.<p>

"Nice to have you back" He said to Rose as he helped her and Peter up.

"Oh no you don't" Cassandra said as she watched them leave. She left the infected woman and just managed to get back to Rose before the Doctor shut the lift doors.


	6. Chapter 6

Rose fell to the floor as Cassandra entered her.

"That is your last warning Cassandra!" The Doctor snapped as he locked the lift doors with the Sonic Screwdriver. But when he saw her shocked expression he immediately softened.

"Inside her head," She said quietly. "They're so alone, they keep reaching out just to hold us, all their lives and they've never been touched" She said. The Doctor held out his hand to her and helped her to her feet. For a moment they stood where they were in a awkward silence before the sound of the infected people banging on the lift doors brought them out of their thoughts. Walking through another door they found they had made their way back to ward twenty six, coming out opposite the Face of Boe. Everyone else jumped in surprise at their sudden appearance whilst Frau Clovis, the Duke of Manhattan's aid, sudden charged at them with a yell as she held a stool out in front of her.

"We're safe! We're safe! We're safe!" The Doctor told her, making her stop. "We're clean! We're clean look!" He said.  
>"Show me your skin" Frau ordered.<p>

"Look clean look!" The Doctor insisted as he, Peter and Cassandra showed her their hands. "If we've been touched we'd be dead" He told her as she nodded and put the stool down.

"So how's it going up here? What's the status?" The Doctor then asked her.

"There's nothing but silence from the other wards, I think were the only ones left" She replied. "But I've been trying to override the quarantine" She said as she came over and pointed at the window and the view of New New York behind them. "If I can trip a signal over to New New York they can send a private executive squad" Frau explained as she showed them a hand held communicator.

"You can't do that, if they force entry they break quarantine" The Doctor told her.  
>"I'm not dying in here!" Frau snapped back.<p>

"We can't let a single partial of disease get out! There is ten million people in that city, they'd all be at risk, now turn that off!" The Doctor ordered her as he pointed to her communicator.

"Not if it gets me out" She replied.

"All right fine, so I have to stop you lot as well? Suits me" He said.

"But how do we stop those people, they're infected with everything" Cassandra said.

"Ironic really when the Sisters can cure everything" Peter said.

"Ah!" The Doctor suddenly cheered, looking as if he'd got an idea. "That's it! Brilliant Peter!" He said. "Cassandra, Peter, Novice Hame, everyone, excuse me your grace, get me the intravenous solutions for every single disease, move it!" The Doctor ordered everyone.

There was a great scramble as everyone grabbed all the bags of liquid medicine they could find as the Doctor broke off one of the beds winch handles with the Sonic Screwdriver. He then got a rope with his tied around his torso as Rose and Peter came running up with armfuls of the bags. Attaching as many as he could to the rope the Doctor looked at the variance of medicines he had.  
>"How's that? Will that do?" He asked them.<p>

"I don't know, will that do for what?" Cassandra asked. The Doctor ran over to the lift doors and opened them. "The lifts aren't working" Cassandra told him as she and Peter came over.

"Not moving different thing" He replied as he looked up and down the shaft before running back a little. "Here we go" He said as he put his arm through the hole in the winch handle and placed the Sonic Screwdriver between his teeth.

"You're not going to..?" Peter began say as the Doctor ran towards the shaft and jumped, grabbing hold of the lift's cable

"What do you think your doing?" Cassandra called from the doorway as she and Peter watched in awe. The Doctor replied but his words were nothing more than mumbles of sound owing to him still having the Sonic Screwdriver in his mouth. He then attached the winch to the cable and took hold of it by the handles, clutching the Sonic in one of his hands.

"Come on" He called to them. Both Peter and Cassandra paled and winced at the idea.  
>"Oh, your mad you know that?" Peter told him as he went a little bit away from the lift before he ran up to it, jumped and grabbed the opposite side of the wince so that he was facing the Doctor.<p>

"Cassandra?" The Doctor then called as they looked to her.

"Not in a million years" She said.

"If your so desperate to stay alive, why don't you live a little?" The Doctor asked her. But in the corridor a group of the infected people had found their way in and Frau, who'd been waiting by ward twenty six's door, wasn't prepared to let them in.  
>"Seal the doors" She ordered. The system complied as the doors automatically shut in front of her, leaving Cassandra trapped and alone on the corridor with them. With a scream Cassandra took at run at the lift and jumped onto the Doctor's back.<p>

"Completely ridiculous, I can see why she likes you" She told him as he pointed the Sonic Screwdriver at the winch before pocketing it as he held a finger over the winch's catch.

"Going down" He said as he released it. They sped down the cable a such at speed that everything became a blur and sparks began to fly from the winch.

After what seemed like an eternity and a awful lot of screaming they reached the roof of the lift that lay in the shaft. The Doctor slowed the winch in time for them to shakily and gratefully put their feet back on the solid and none moving ground.

"Well that's one way to lose weight" Cassandra muttered.

"Now, Peter when I say so take hold of that lever" The Doctor instructed as he pointed out a large lever on the roof of the lift.

"What are you going to do?" Peter asked as he moved over to the lever.

"I know a bit about medicine myself" The Doctor replied before he started tearing open the bags he was carrying and poured all the contents into the large circular tank that stood in the centre of the roof. "Now that lever's going to resist so keep it in position" He told Peter as he went over to the lift's roof hatch and opened it. "Hold onto it with everything you've got" He added as he held himself over the gap.

"What about you?" Cassandra asked him.

"I've got an appointment, the Doctor is in" He replied as he dropped down into the lift. Turning around to face the doors the Doctor opened them with his Sonic Screwdriver. Outside the lift a large group of the infected people sat huddled together. "I'm in here come on" The Doctor called to them as they took notice of him and began to walk towards him.

"What are you doing?" Peter asked in surprise as he and Cassandra saw what the Doctor was doing. "Pull that lever" The Doctor replied. Above Peter took hold of the lever and started pulling it. "Come and get me! Come on!" The Doctor called again to the infected people as they got closer and closer to him. Just as they reached the lift's entrance a familiar voice sounded.

"Commence stage one disinfection" The lifts automated voice said just before the spray of lukewarm disinfectant rained down in the lift, soaking the Doctor and the first of the infected people, who stopped as they were hit with the medicine. They then turned around and began heading back out towards the others.

"All they wanna do is pass it on! Pass it on!" The Doctor shouted as he jumped up and down joyfully.

"Pass on what? Pass on what?" Cassandra asked.

"Pass it on!" The Doctor shouted again. The infected people who'd been sprayed with the medicine were now going around the others and touching them. As they did so steam began to rise from their skin with a hiss. The marks of infection then began to fade before disappearing completely.

Jumping down through the hatch Peter and Cassandra remained nervous about what the Doctor had done.

"What did they pass on? Did you kill them?" Cassandra asked.

"No that's your way of doing things" The Doctor replied with a smile as they walked out of the lift and looked around. "I'm the Doctor and I cured them!" The Doctor said as they all saw the now cured and healthy people stood around them. "It's a new subspecies, a brand new form of life, new humans look at them, look!" He said, unable to stop smiling. "Grown by cats, kept in the dark, fed by tubes but completely completely alive!" He said as he went round looking at them all. "You can't deny them cause you helped create them," He then said, pointing at Peter and Cassandra. "The human race keeps on going, keeps on changing, life will out, Ha!" The Doctor cried ecstatically.

Evening had drawn in when the quarantine was lifted.

"This is the NNYPD please step away from the shuttles," A police officer's voice announced as the police force of New New York swarmed the building.

"All staff will report themselves to the officers for immediate arrest, I repeat, immediate arrest" The hospital's automated voice announced. The Doctor, Peter and Cassandra were stood watching the new humans being cared for when they saw a handcuffed Novice Hame being escorted out of the hospital by an officer. "All new life forms will be catalogued and taken into care" The automated voice announced as they saw her disappear from sight. "All visitors to the hospital will be required to make a statement to the NNYPD" The announcement continued. But the Doctor had other things on his mind.

"The Face of Boe" He cried as he remembered, before running off, closely followed by Peter and Cassandra.

Reaching ward twenty six they saw him stood in the same place. But there was no dips attached to him and, for a large head in a tank, he was looking very active and healthy.

"You were suppose to be dying?" The Doctor inquired with a grin as they approached.

"There are better things to do today dying can wait" The Face of Boe replied, it's old but powerful voice passing through their heads telepathically.

"You just decided not to die?" Peter asked. The Face of Boe chuckled.

"We can all choose when to die young Saiyain though sometimes we feel we cannot avoid it" He replied. "I'd grown tired with the universe Doctor but you have taught me to look at it anew" He told the Doctor who walked up a little closer.

"There are legends you know saying your millions of years old" He enquired as he crouched in front of the tank. The Face of Boe chuckled again.  
>"Oh now that would be impossible" He replied.<p>

"Wouldn't it just?" The Doctor chuckled. "I got the impression there was something you wanted to tell me?" He then asked.

"The great secret," The Face of Boe said.

"So the legend says" The Doctor said.

"It can wait" The Face of Boe replied casually.

"Oh does it have to?" The Doctor whined.

"We shall met again Doctor, for the third time, for the last time and the truth shall be told, until that day" The Face of Boe told him before teleporting away in a green sparkling light.

"That is enigmatic, that that is text book enigmatic" The Doctor said before sighing and stand up.

"And now for you" He said as he looked to Cassandra, who looked a little surprised.

"But everything's happy, everything's fine, can't you just leave me?" She asked as she looked from him to Peter, seemingly in support, but only found the same sympathetic but insistent stare coming from him.

"It's not fair on Rose" He told her.

"You've lived long enough, leave that body and end it Cassandra" The Doctor told her softly but seriously. Cassandra forced back the tears.

"I don't want to die" She whimpered.

"No one does" The Doctor told her.

"Help me!" She cried.

"I can't" The Doctor told her.

"Mistress!" Chip's voice said as he came running onto the ward, bounding up like a loyal pet.

"Oh your alive!" Cassandra said with joy.

"I kept myself safe mistress, for you" He replied devotionally. A thought then occurred to Cassandra.

"A body and not just that a volunteer" She said with a smile.

"Don't you dare he's got a life of his own" The Doctor told her.

"But I worship the mistress" Chip told him. "I welcome her" He said as Cassandra gave the Doctor a wink.

"You can't Cassandra you can't..." The Doctor began to tell her. But it was too late as Cassandra left Rose's body and entered Chip's.

Rose was caught by the Doctor as she fell.  
>"You all right?" He asked her as he helped her to her feet. "Whoa" He said as she nearly fell again as Peter caught her and held her steady. "You ok?" He asked as she used both of them for balance.<p>

"Yeah," She said as she steadied herself. "Hello," She then said to them with a smile.

"Hello, welcome back" The Doctor said, returning the smile.

"Oh sweet lord," Cassandra's unmistakable tone, now in Chip's voice, made them all then look around. "I'm a walking doodle" Cassandra complained.

"You can't stay in there, I'm sorry Cassandra but that's not fair," The Doctor told her. "I can take you to the city, they can build you a skin tag and you can stand trial for what you've done" He said.

"Well that would be rather dramatic, possibly my finest hour and certainly my finest hat" She replied with a smile as she indicated the green hospital cap she was wearing. "But I'm afraid we don't have much time, well poor little Chip is only a half life and he's been through so much" She said before he face tensed up a little. "His heart is racing so, he's failing, I don't think he's going to last.." She began to say before her knee's buckled.

"Oh, your all right" The Doctor said as he, Peter and Rose all caught hold of her and gently lowered her onto her knees.

"I'm fine," She said calmly. "I'm dying, but that's fine" She said as the Doctor, Peter and Rose knelt in front of her.

"I can take you to the city..." The Doctor began to say.

"No you won't, everything's new on this planet, there's no place for Chip and me any more, your right Doctor, it's time to die, that's good" She said acceptingly.

"Come on, there's one last thing I can do" The Doctor said softly as they helped her up to her feet and supported her weight as they led her away.

The Tardis landed in the archway with little notice. It was night where they'd come to so the curtains had been drawn, concealing the ship. The Doctor stepped through them first before he was followed out by Cassandra, now wrapped up in a black hooded cloak that hid all but her face, Peter and Rose. Cassandra face lit up when she saw what was in front of her. They had arrived at the same party she'd been watching on the film in the hospital's basement. And there, stood in front of her, laughing, drinking and flirting, was her old human self in her original body.

"Thank you" Cassandra said as she turned back to the Doctor.

"Just go and don't look back" The Doctor reassured.

"Good luck" Rose said as they watched Cassandra began walking over to the crowd. It was as the old Cassandra had finished talking with the crowd of men she'd been with and was walking away that Cassandra reached her.

"Excuse me, the Lady Cassandra?" She asked as she smiled.

"I'm sorry I don't need anything, I'm fine thank you" The old Cassandra insisted as she began to walk away.

"No I just wanted to say," Cassandra said as her old self stopped to listen. "You look beautiful" He told her.

"Well, that's very kind you strange little thing, thank you very much" The old Cassandra thanked sincerely.

"I mean it, you look so beautiful" Cassandra told her. The old Cassandra had never looked so deeply moved or grateful as she did then.  
>"Thank you" She said. Cassandra then let out her last breath as she collapsed to the floor.<p>

"Oh my lord! Are you all right? What is it? What's wrong?" The old Cassandra asked as she bent down and held her in her arms. The other people were beginning to notice something was wrong and were gathering round. "Someone get some help! Call a medic or something! Quickly!" The old Cassandra ordered as someone ran off to summon help. People were starting to ask questions. "I don't know, he just came up to me, I don't even know his name, he just collapsed, I think he's dying, someone do something!" The old Cassandra said as she cradled her. "I've got you sweetheart, it's all right, there you are, there you are I've got you, it'll be all right" She comforted. "There there you poor thing" She said, rocking her gently.

With a last look Rose and Peter headed back through the curtain and into the Tardis. The Doctor was close behind but paused for a moment as he watched the old Cassandra hold her dying self in her arms before he also quietly slipped through the curtains and into his ship.


End file.
